SE: First Mission
by Yuan Mi
Summary: It's Chrona's first mission! Chrona, Kid, and Maka head to New Mexico to investigate a witch sighting- but there seems to be some secrets hidden by their new allies. New friends, new enemies, and a whole new side-plot! Soul Eater weekly T just in case
1. Gathering

_Notes: My first fan fiction and serious story, so please leave a review so I can know what to improve on… I hope you like it, I tried, but it was mostly procrastination, heh…(I do not own nor claim to own this series, Soul Eater, all rights reserved to its rightful owners.) I apologize if they're a little OOC, I try my hardest for them to stay in character, but still keep the story interesting…_

"Eh? Whaaaat?"

"Yup! Our first mission with Chrona. Sounds fun, huh?" Liz, the older of the two girls said to her younger sister's incredulous remark. Liz stood taller than her blonde sister, and her sandy-colored hair was longer than that of her sister's. She was smarter and in some cases, prettier, but one thing she'd always scorned was that her younger sister's breasts were larger than hers.

"This isn't just for _fun_, Liz. We're heading over to those ruins to investigate a witch sighting. And on top of that, it's unknown territory. There's nothing _fun_ about that," the meister of the two walking alongside them. He wore a black suit, with some white every here and there. Everything about him was symmetrical except his hair, his one weakness. His cropped black hair was almost perfect, the symmetry ruined by three white stripes running across his hair, stopping halfway.

"No, I was only surprised 'cause we havta go to a bunch of boring ruins. Talk about booorring~!" Patty said while stretching her arms above her heads, mid-yawn. The group was certainly strange, the two weapons, currently in human form, wore matching modern-looking cowgirl suits, and were both significantly taller than their meister. Though they might've been far from similar, they were awfully close to one another.

"Anyway, we'll be late for the gathering. We should hurry."

The bright red leaves on the tree branches above filtered much of the light, making the area around the park bench pretty dim. It was still lively, decorated with the sounds of overhead songbirds and children at play. A boy with spiky white hair, wearing a sweatband and a sweat jacket sat on the bench. His companion, a brown-haired, pig-tailed girl wearing a school uniform paced around it in an almost perfect circle. "Knock it off already, wouldya? They're not the ones who are late; we're just damn early," the boy finally said, after watching the girl circle the bench several times.

"But Kid and his team are supposed to accompany Chrona and us to those ruins—if neither of them comes in time, how would we deal in such a dangerous situation?" The girl stated this nervously, obviously deep in thought. The boy just looked to his side with a sigh, but lifted his head once he'd spotted a familiar sight.

"Hey, Maka! Check it—there's Chrona." After this simple observation, the pig-tailed girl twirled around to face the newcomer, a full 180 degrees, and smiled; a sight that would've been a surprise to anybody who might've been watching the previously expressionless girl.

"M-Maka, sorry I'm late…" The newly arrived girl, Chrona, said this while rubbing her arm, slouching slightly. She wore a plain dress, similar to that of a nun's, but without the headpiece. Her light pink hair would've stood out in any crowd, and her pale blue eyes fluttered around, displaying her obvious nervousness. "Am I the last one to come, Maka…?"

Maka smiled while shaking her head side to side. "No, not at all! We've only just got here ourselves." This news pleased Chrona, glad to have not been a bother to her friends.

_What a load of __**crap**__,_ the boy on the bench thought to himself. He and Maka had woken up at six in the morning, arriving at the park at seven, and now it was noon. _What a waste of __**six**__ hours… We came so early even though we were just supposed to meet up at 12:30…_ He released a deep sigh, catching the attention of the two girls, and noticeably ticked off his meister.

"MAKA CHOP!!!" his meister shouted out as she chopped his head with a heavy book about the size and weight of an encyclopedia. "You've been sighing and groaning all day long, Soul, can't you just be a little bit more patient?!" Soul said nothing, but instead got off the bench and started stretching several feet away. This left Maka red in the face with anger, but some almost indistinct shouting had caught her attention.

"Sorryyy, we're real late!", Patty, clutching her hat so it would not fall off, was running toward the trio, waving her free arm. Liz, out of breath, and their meister, Death the Kid, followed close behind.

"The train was boarding… we should hurry if we want to catch it!", Death the Kid yelled as he, Liz, and Patty continued running after they'd reached their friends. This rudeness was dismissed, as catching that train was more important. Each of the three left behind were in a state of shock for a short moment, but quickly regained their senses and ran after the others, full speed.

The train was small; one part of the train could just fit the group of six. All of them were panting and trying to catch their breath, none of them spoke for a bit, the silence filled in by deep, heavy breaths of air.

"S… So, Shinigami-san* didn't exactly fill us in very well about our mission. What are we going to do?", Maka asked, her breathing slowing down. Kid cleared his throat, and calmly and clearly stated very professionally, "We're off to New Mexico to investigate some old ruins. A technician, one of the residents of a small town that's near the said area, had reported that he'd spotted some unfamiliar people that'd been passing through town a lot recently. He also said that, even with his weak soul perception, he could sense that they were strong, and that they were witches. They seem to come from the ruins and back, he'd even spotted them in the ruins, so we're going to check it out. Obviously, it would've just been me to look into such an incident, but Chrona needed her first mission, so my father assigned you and Soul to protect her." While he'd stated this, Patty had fallen asleep, curled up in her seat, her head on Liz's shoulder. Soul had gone to looking through the window, watching the vast deserts they were passing by, and Maka had been taking down the notes the whole time. "So, we're going to meet up with this technician, and then what?" Maka asked.

"After we meet up with Wes, he'll tell us what he knows about the situation and he'll lead us to the ruins. However, he won't be assisting us much further than that." A cut opened on Chrona's back, the blood flowing out to form a small creature-looking thing.

"Ahhh! I'm boiling! This damned train has no air-conditioning. You, chick! Open up some of those windows!" The black creature commanded, directed at Liz. She pointed to herself in confusion, but got up to open the windows. Kid grabbed her wrist. "However hot any of us may be feeling, we're in the middle of a desert. It's not a good idea to open any windows unless we want a sandstorm in here." Ragnarok, which was also Chrona's weapon, crossed his small arms and _hmmph_'d.

"Huh? I expected you to pick a fight with him, Ragnarok. That's unusual of you…." Soul said, his attention now directed toward the usually hot-headed weapon.

"He's a friggin' shinigami*, for god's sake. I'm not a **dumbass**, I know not to mess with someone as strong as that, at least, not if there's no point in it," Ragnarok angrily retorted. He didn't like the thought that Soul might've thought that he was weak, so he added a quick "But I could take any of you other guys on, anytime!", while making a couple quick jabs in the air. However, Soul had already looked away, in embarrassment, thinking back on the time when he's challenged Kid before. He and his meister friend, Black Star, had fought the young shinigami, and despite their strength, they'd failed. Ragnarok, he'd realized, was no fool. The silence was broken once every while, but would return again after a short-lived attempt at a conversation. The dry heat did no one any good, especially the over-heated Ragnarok, who took his anger out by giving Chrona a nudgie throughout most of the ride.

_End notes: *Shinigami-san= Kid's dad and Death god, lowercased "shinigami" is just a death god in general. __**Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!! –Yuan Mi**_


	2. Arrival

_Dang. I realized that Soul's older brother's name is Wes, just like the Wes in my story. I apologize for this, and I hope I can avoid any mix-ups. He is not __**the**__ Wes, as in Soul's older brother. For this and the future stories for this fan fiction, I'll change his name to Walt .I don't know if this was a little rushed, but I hope you'll like it. (I do not own nor claim the series Soul Eater, all rights reserved to its rightful owners)_

When the train doors flew open, just as Kid had predicted, sand flew in, getting into clothes and eyes. Finally, they'd arrived at their destination. Luckily, a lot of time was saved for the group when they'd immediately spotted their welcome party. Walt waited at the station for them, sporting a red handkerchief that was tied around his neck. He was dressed in a tank top, covered by a colorful poncho; he also wore khaki shorts, flip-flop sandals, and a blue cowboy hat. His weapon, standing beside him, was a tough-looking man with a 5 o'clock shadow, making him look even more like a bandit straight from the old west. He wore a black cowboy hat, a red handkerchief like his meister's, except his was pulled over his nose and mouth, and thick black hair covered his eyes. His clothes were just like a cowboy's, except a dark chocolate color. Walt, despite his somewhat rugged appearance, was very welcoming, and when he'd spotted the group, had cupped his hand to his mouth and yelled out a "Hey!" while waving with his other hand excitedly. However, his partner didn't seem so welcoming and warm, as he'd remained standing, without even a nod to signify a hello. He kept his hands in his pants pockets, not bothering to take them out to wave like his meister. Kid was the first to greet the two, and he did so by professionally reaching out a hand and saying "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Walter. I'm Death the Kid, my companions and I were asked to come here when you informed my honorable father of your witch sighting." Rather than replying in an equally professional way, Walt took his hand but then grabbed him, pulling him into a great big bear hug.

"Ah, Master Kid! I've heard so much about you from your father; I'm so happy to finally see you!!!" Walt said cheerfully, while a look of great joy was displayed on his face, his cheeks rosy red, while his smile was goofy and cheerful. His weapon, name still unknown, just looked away, perhaps in embarrassment. Kid was squeezed so tightly his face turned a tad blue, but just as the air in his lungs was about to leave his body, he was released. Walt placed his hands on his hips, looking starry-eyed at the children. "Alright, first things first, let's go get some lunch and I'll tell you what I know."

The restaurant they'd entered had a comfortable feel to it, but was empty except for them and a couple across the room, and one or two men drinking at the bar. There were many waiters, even with their lacking number of customers. The waiters with no duties hung around, walking in and out of the room. As they were looking at their menus, Kid put his down and looked Walt straight in the eye. "Okay, now that we're here, can we get on with what we came here for?" Walt sighed, as if he was hoping to put this off until the very last possible moment.

"Alright, I was checking out the ruins because some of the kids in town were playing outside for a little too long, and it was almost sundown, so their mothers asked me to check if they'd wandered into the ruins. I did go into the ruins, but maybe a little too far, because I almost walked right into the middle of a witches' meeting. There were about twenty in that room, and when I tried to overhear, I could only catch parts of what the head witch was saying. Something about Giriko and golems. I knew that if witches were talking about golems, it couldn't have been a good thing. When I tried to hear more, I thought one of the witched spotted me just then, so I took off running…. And that's all I know. Sorry I couldn't be of more help." Walt scratched his head, looking nervously back and forth from the menu to Kid. "Giriko! Golems?! Soul, it's that guy! When we'd gone to that village to check out that golem problem!" Maka said hurriedly. Chrona looked a little disturbed, "I remember… he's not a very nice guy… he's strong. Maybe the headphones man will be able to help us again…?" By headphones man, Chrona had meant Justin Law, a friend and Death Scythe of Shinigami who'd helped Maka and Chrona back when they'd first encountered Giriko, who had worked with a witch named Arachne and had caused a golem to go berserk.

Soul tapped his menu for a bit, lost in thought. "Yeah… no good news… this café only offers Western food. I was in the mood for Chinese, too." With a quick Maka chop, his meister pouted. "Are you even listening to the conversation? Asian cuisines are of no importance at the moment!" The waiter arrived, ready to take orders, while Kid was ready to ask more questions. "Do you know who might've been there at the meeting? Any specific witches?" Walt's face darkened. "Well, Lady Bug was definitely there. I'm certain. She's a big problem around these parts, and is a prime suspect for multiple crimes. Her follower, Aries, was there too. I was focusing too hard listening, and I didn't look around much… But I do remember the head witch saying Lady Bug and Aries would be stationed here in New Mexico for the next week, to collect 'parts', while the other witches would scatter to other locations to collect other key 'parts.' So, you'd only have to deal with those two witches." Kid's face looked a little dark, he knew Lady Bug was strong, but he'd never heard of Aries. His face shocked the waiter quite a bit when he had looked up at her to order, with such a scary expression on his face. Chrona, having met each of the witches before, had been thinking similar thoughts. Lady Bug's aura released a lot of power; she was definitely powerful, perhaps even more powerful than her mother, Medusa…

After a hearty meal, except for some such as Walt's quiet partner and Kid, Kid informed the group that they would first map out the interior of the ruins at night, and the second, infiltrate and destroy the witches. Thus, having decided this, Walt hesitantly brought the kids to the ruins, which was not too far from the town. When they had arrived, the ruins appeared much more intimidated than they had expected.

The ruins were similar to that of an Aztec pyramid, like many blocks placed above each other, creating a block triangle. It didn't look quite as ruined as it did abandoned. Most of the outside was intact, but vegetation grew on the walls and through the cracks. Words of a strange language were inscribed on the walls. There was also graffiti on the side that stated very clearly "LEAVE OR DIE" in large red letters. Perhaps an adolescent prank; or maybe the witches had put it there to keep unwanted visitors out. Either way, it didn't help to bring the kids' spirits up. Maka gulped and Soul's mouth hung open. Chrona looked more nervous than usual, making strange, whimpering sounds in her throat and fidgeting. Patty, for the first time all day, had her mouth completely shut, and Liz looked as if she was just struck by a bus. Kid looked intimidated but tried not to show it, instead trying to cover it up by making a feeble comment on its poor symmetry.

"L-look how the stone crumbles… It completely ruins the symmetry of this ancient temple!"

"Shut up, Kid."

"Okay."

Leaving behind a lip-biting Walt and his mysterious weapon partner, the children entered the ruins, unaware of the danger that lay underneath their feet.

_Curious? Let's keep it that way for now… until the next chapter is out! The next one should have some fighting, so I apologize if it takes a while to write up, it'll be a lot more exciting than the last two, I promise. If you're confused/have tips for me, please leave a review (or you could if you just want to, doesn't matter either way) Thank you for reading!_


	3. Seperated

_Third of the series, First Mission. I worked hard on this one, and I think it's good, or, at least I hope it is! It's longer than the 1__st__ and 2__nd__, and definitely more suspenseful. Again, please leave a review if you have a tip for me as to how I could improve the story/ my writing. I do not own, nor claim to own, the series of Soul Eater, all rights to their respective owners._

Once the six had entered the pyramid, they found a staircase leading underground, into the darkness. They looked at each other nervously; Death the Kid took the first step forward. The rest followed closely, venturing into the unknown dangers that may lie ahead. It got cooler as they went lower, suiting the several bugs that flew about and crawled on the walls. Kid, still ahead of the group, felt something strange, as if his instincts were telling him to go back to the town. As he was about to share his doubts with the group, he stepped on a switch, causing torches, that were just a minute ago unseen, to light up simultaneously. Immediately following this, more traps than you could count began swinging out of the walls; a flailing chainsaw here, an axe pendulum there, multiple pitfalls and more.

As the children were all jumping, ducking, and running for their lives, a deep _KA-THMPH _was heard not too far behind them. Liz, already exhausted with fear, looked back to see what the noise was, only to regret it as soon as she did. She turned forward again, this time running and evading even quicker, desperate to get away from the oncoming danger. The others, seeing her frantic movements, hesitantly looked back as well; seeing an immensely large boulder behind them, which could barely fit the stairway, crushing all the dangerous devices as it rolled past them. With neither time nor the energy to scream, they all pushed themselves to run even quicker to who-knows-where, the sweat flying off their faces. Soul, who was ahead of all of the meisters and weapons, felt as if all the souls he'd ever devoured were about to fly out of his mouth. An idea hit him, and when he'd heard Maka say "Soul!" he knew that she had the same idea.

Now in his scythe form, Maka grasped Soul, slashing the buzz saws, hammers, maces, flamethrowers, and more that were in front of them, destroying what dangers they could. However, she'd missed one, and it was about to attack her blind spot when Chrona jumped in, hacking it to pieces. She flashed a meek smile to her scythe-wielding friend. Despite the speed they'd gained due to the loss of most of the traps, the boulder inched closer and closer, as if it were ready to swallow up the nearest person, Patty. Much to their relief, from where they were, they could see the exit at the bottom, Maka dived forward through the exit, or rather, their entrance to safety. Following Maka, Chrona half-tripped, half-stumbled through; while Liz, Kid, and Patty ran in right behind her.

Having just avoided their deaths, the group nearly fainted when hearing the deafening crash of the boulder smashing into the much smaller doorway. The children probably would've rested there for hours if not for the lights in this newer room, immediately turning on, similarly to how it did in the stairway, again lighted by fires. They stiffened with fear, afraid that more traps would pop out. To their surprise nothing happened. However, two hallways that lay ahead of them caught their eyes.

Kid swallowed and said "However much I might dislike the idea… I think we're going to have to split up from here." He looked over to Chrona, and then to Maka. "Maka, take Chrona with you, you two seem to work well together." Maka smiled in pain, still exhausted from that seemingly endless "marathon". "I don't think we'll be able to communicate, which again, I resent, but we'll have to if we want to carry out as planned." Soul nodded seriously to Kid's comment. "Then, let's get going," Soul then said as he helped his meister up from her resting spot on the ground. The six split up accordingly as well as hesitantly, muttering their "good lucks" to one another as they went their ways.

"It's dark in here!" Patty exclaimed, as Kid, Liz, and she walked down a dark hallway. As if magic, torches lit up as they had before. Kid looked a little disturbed. "Be careful… I think someone's watching us." He examined the walls decorated with carvings, looking for anything suspicious. "So pretty! Look, Liz! A ladybug!" Patty pointed excitedly at a red speck on the wall. Kid walked over quickly, allowing the bug to crawl onto its finger. "Now, why would something like this be underground? And in a place with no plants, nonetheless." He squished it in between his fingers, receiving a shocked squeak from Patty. Liz looked puzzled. "Why did you just do that? You know, killing a ladybug brings bad luck." Kid looked over at her, "Isn't it obvious? Coccinellidae* are not able to live in such an area. And, I don't believe in such myths." He said calmly and plainly. Then, "Ah… can I have something to wipe this on?" Liz took a step back.

"Is it just me… or is it kind of humid in here?" Liz commented, fanning herself to no avail. "Yeah," Kid said, pulling at his collar, "It's a lot warmer than it was at the stairway." Patty nodded rapidly, and wiped her brow, looking at the sweat on her hand. "It looks really sparkly in the light," she said, examining it from different angles.

"Come on. We should keep going." Kid said, walking ahead as Patty kept looking at her hand. Liz followed behind, then dragging her sister along when she wouldn't move on her own.

As the three walked by torches, one on either side of the corridor, they lit up as they had. Soul watched this, mouth slightly open, as Maka led him and Chrona through the unknown area. "What are these things in the air? Some kind of bug." Maka commented, swatting at them. Soul caught one between his fingers. As it squirmed to free itself from his grasp, he squinted at the tiny thing. "It's a ladybug." Soul said plainly. "Why are there so many down here? It's weird." They shrugged and continued on. However, they didn't notice Chrona's expression, which showed only nervousness. She clutched her sword awkwardly, holding it close to herself. A chill ran down her spine, despite the warm temperature. _What a familiar wavelength_, she thought as her head turned about, wondering why it was.

A soft humming flowed through the air, accompanied by peacefully floating bubbles. A childlike voice sung a short song, then returning to humming. The song went like this:

_**Ladybird**__***, ladybird, fly away home  
Your house is on fire and your children are gone  
All except one, and that's Little Anne  
For she has crept under the warming pan.**_

The voice continued humming, and giggled in between the humming and singing…

Maka stretched her arm out to the side, keeping the other two in her team from advancing. "Hey! What's the big idea?" Soul hissed.

"_Shh!_" she said, putting a finger up to her mouth. "Do you hear something?" Ragnarok just then popped out from Chrona's back and grabbed Maka's finger, bending it back. "H-Hey! My finger doesn't bend like that!" Ragnarok snickered as he held fast, then asking "Just what _something_ are you talking about, little girl?" holding the "L" out in "girl". Maka pulled her finger from his grip, then scolding him.

"Hey! How dare you?!! And if you actually bothered to listen, you would know what I was talking about!" Her shouting echoes through the hall, causing Maka to jump and cup her hand over her mouth. Hopefully, the enemy had not heard. When the echo finally echoed into oblivion, with careful listening, they were able to hear sounds. Unintelligible sounds, but they were there, no doubt about it.

"What is it…?" Chrona whispered, looking over to Maka. "We can't tell what it is from here, but from this point on, we should be extra careful." Soul and Chrona nodded in reply, the three then continuing on forward.

"This is strange… We've been walking straight for so long, and now, out of nowhere, five possible paths are right in front of us." The meister and his weapons stood in a row, confounded by which path to take next. "We can't possibly split up…" the meister continued. He closed his eyes, concentrating hard… After a moment or two, his eyes snapped open. "I sense a strong wavelength coming from there," he said, pointing at the doorway at the very left.

Meanwhile, Patty covered her eyes with one hand and spun around in a circle, extending her free arm; during which her hat flew off as she continued. She stopped spinning and uncovered her eyes. She was pointing at the rightmost pathway. "We should go here!" Patty exclaimed, proud of herself. When she looked over at her silent companions, she found they were not there at all, rather already heading toward the left entrance. Patty pouted and grabbed her hat from the ground, placing it on her head as she speed walked over to them.

The entrance they chose proved to be a suspicious one, for it led to a maze, with multiple dead ends and many different roads to choose from. In no time at all, they were completely lost. They were all exhausted from having to run around. However, Kid was determined. "I'm not about to rot in some filthy maze in the middle of nowhere!" he scowled. "Patty! Liz!" He held up his hands, his companions understanding, turning into their weapon form and landing into his hands. At the wall in front of him, he aimed and shot dead center. A hole was blown right through the thick walls. _Success!_, Kid thought as it pierced straight through. However, this thought was erased as soon as he'd seen what was on the other side of the wall. Large amounts of water came gushing out from the hole, flooding the area of the maze that the three were just in. A head popped out of the rushing water, and another followed. "Where did all this water come from?!" Liz said, incredulous and coughing up the surprisingly warm water. Kid replied, "Perhaps we hit an underground well? Ah… my eyes burn…" He rubbed his eyes, but jumped slightly when he realized what was in the water. Bubbles. Soap bubbles. "What kind of underground well has soap water?!" he shouted, his eyes burning even more. However, Liz was too busy to help Kid; she was looking around, feeling as if half of her was missing. "Where's Patty?" she wondered. Her meister, one eye closed and the other struggling to stay open, stared at her. A horrible thought struck the two and they both swam around frantically in the seemingly endless rushing river of soap water, searching for their missing companion.

Something caught Liz's eye. "Patty? Patty?!" She swam over to a body floating in the water, but what she found was not Patty, nor any regular sight.

The other three found the source of the sound they'd previously heard, as they walked into a dense forest with a small stream. "W-why is there a forest underground?" Soul looked around, shocked. A chill ran down Chrona's spine for the second time today, her heart skipping a beat. This familiar wavelength... She knew just who it belonged to.

_Cliffhanger… I hope you enjoyed reading it, and even if you didn't, thanks for reading anyways! I felt it was kind of rushed, but hopefully it wasn't._

*Coccinellidae: scientific term for ladybug

*Ladybird: another way to say ladybug


	4. Commence

_Sorry for taking forever to upload! This new installation contains a lot more, well, cursing, fighting (though not very violent), and some nudity (though not very well described though, so whatever you're thinking…). Just a little heads up, and I know it's short, but writing about fighting is hard, haha, so I'll be trying my best to make it enjoyable and exciting. Any suggestions or feedback is much appreciated, thanks!_

Liz held her breath, shocked and somewhat disturbed by what she was looking at. Kid, questioning her silence, swam over. "What are you just standing around for? Is something wr—" He stopped short, feeling his face turn red. He spun around, stuttering. "I-I'm going to look for Patty! You take care of her!" What they'd discovered… was an almost nude girl, with curly, white locks of hair who was floating in the water. A towel was wrapped loosely around her chest, showing some cleavage. Surely this couldn't have been a witch, not with such an innocent face. But… what would a girl like this be doing virtually naked under a pyramid? She certainly wasn't dead, as her cheeks were still rosy and her breathing regular. _Well, forget about that. For now I have to help this girl and then find Patty,_ Liz thought, shaking her wandering mind so she could think straight. She wrapped the towel around the girl, so it would not be so loose, and scooped her up in one arm, paddling with the other.

Soul walked about, exploring the vast forest, while Maka tried to coax Chrona to come along with them. For some reason their pink-haired friend stood there, planted to the ground, her teeth chattered and she shook her head, showing she didn't want to move. Maka was worried. What could cause her to freeze up like this? She took Chrona's hand into her own, smiling. "I understand. We'll stay here until you're ready."

Thus Soul wandered aimlessly, exploring the strange place. The vast amounts of ladybugs often swarmed him, and he was finally so annoyed by the flying pests, he grabbed a fistful of them from the air and squashed them all as he tightened his fist.

"Please, don't do that," a woman's calm voice emerged from behind him. "They really don't like it when you do, can you not hear their screams?" Soul spun around, shocked. He turned his head quickly, but could not see Maka or Chrona. The woman chuckled as he turned back to face her. She wore a cloak, similar to that of a witch's, except hers was mahogany-colored. On her hood, there was a design that looked like the head of a ladybug, and two clumps of hair stuck out of her hood, looking like antennae. She smiled in an almost charming way, yet still showing the evil behind it all. She held out her hand, her cloak then swirled off of her and condensed into a small mask-sized, ladybug-like… thing which appeared in her hand. She placed it on her head, and against the raven black of her wavy hair, it stood out well. Now she'd worn an incredibly old-fashioned mahogany petticoat, the color equal to that of her cloak, and above that a thin see-through poncho. She clutched an umbrella, and when she'd opened it, it revealed large black spots on a solid red color. She held it about her head, twirling it about.

Without the hood shadowing her face, she looked young, about eighteen. Surprised to see such a young witch, Soul looked perplexed. _Was this really a witch? She certainly doesn't dress like one… but she does talk like one, and her wavelength screams 'Danger'._ He kept this in mind as he transformed his right arm into the blade of a scythe. "Oh my," the witch chuckled. "So eager to fight? And without your meister?" Her face turned dark and she held her umbrella toward the weapon, firing. A large projectile flew from the umbrella's point, located at the top. Soul successfully dodged this, but when he looked back at the tree to see the damage, he found it about to fall right on top of him. Soul scurried out of its path, but what could come out of an _umbrella_ that could cause such a thick tree to come tumbling down? He looked at the base, seeing that it was melting still from acid. _Flying acid,_ he thought, _Not cool._

Liz still clutched the mysterious girl, now searching for her missing sister and meister. Swimming was certainly hard labor when you had a hundred pound girl in one arm. "Liz!" A cheerful voice called out. It was Patty, and Kid was swimming along right behind her. "Can you believe the water's STILL coming out?" Liz grinned, having missed her sister's silliness. Her meister looked at the girl in Liz's arm, then blushing furiously and looking away, for her waist down was uncovered; the towel they found on her wasn't large enough to cover her entire body. To their surprise, the girl began to awaken…

"Hello? Why's it so cold?" As if her word was law, the water turned warmer. The mysterious girl pushed herself out of Liz's grasp, and swam quickly over to a boulder. She climbed onto the land, and with a snap of her fingers an outfit appeared on her, and she was completely dry. She now wore a tan traditional Chinese dress, the neckline lined with wool. She had on long black gloves, and long black boots. Her hair was also tied up into twin buns, one of either side of her head. In some way, they looked like ram's horns. Kid, now looking, caught on immediately. "It can't be… you're Aries?!"

"Huh? Could it be? A little birdie told you about me?" she said cutely. "Oh? And how did I get here…? I thought I was taking a bath upstairs." Her eyes sparkled when they were finally focused on the three. "Wow! All three of you… your souls are certainly spa-a-a-arkly*!" Kid scrunched up his face, confused by this witch's strangely upbeat attitude. Patty clapped and said, "Yes! I agree!" The witch's expression turned bitter, out of place on her just-a-minute-ago happy face. "Is that right… _Barbie?_" She said this last word dripping with hate, and it seemed that for some reason, she did not enjoy how the weapon had agreed with her. "Learn this, and learn it well. I don't need your help to state what I think. For I am the_ ONLY _Aries. The _original_. And this is _my_ opinion, so back off!" She whipped her arm forward, and the water in front of her moved in the same motion, slicing forward and hitting Patty.

"Ahh!" Patty yelled as she was hit by the wave and was pushed under the water. She resurfaced, her eyes red from the soap water, and were dark and piercing with anger. "_Bitch!_ Kid, no matter what, we're going to teach this dress-up doll a lesson! Just because I agree with her, she attacks me? I don't think so!" She transformed into her gun form, Liz then following her actions. Aries stuck her tongue out at the blonde and said "Bring it on, Barbie!" It seemed as if this fight had no longer involved Liz or Kid, but was a fight only between the witch and the weapon. A chill ran down Kid's spine, afraid of the outcome.

There was an alarmingly loud crash from the forest, and as Maka turned, she witnessed a half-transformed Soul running toward her. She let go of Chrona's hand, and took Soul, now completely transformed, ready for battle. Lady Bug walked out from the shadows from the overhead trees. "Well, what do we have here?" Her eyes intensified, seemingly focused on Chrona, who was trying to look as small as possible behind Maka. "You've grown, Chrona," she chuckled. Ragnarok appeared in the girl's hands, clutching the black and white sword awkwardly with both hands.

"M-Miss Bird*…!" Maka looked nervously at her frozen friend. "P-please, Maka… Let me face her. She's too strong for you…" Maka opened her mouth to refuse, but shut it, realizing it was her friend's fight, and did not include her.

"Lady Bug, Lady Bird, Lady Beetle!" the witch chanted, with which rocks were pushed up to the ground; something was tunneling toward Chrona. Beneath her feet, a giant ladybug, grabbed at her leg with its front two legs. Swiftly, she cut off the head of the bug, unfazed. She rushed toward the witch, sword ready to swing.

"Spa-a-a-sparkle, Shine, Shimmer!" the younger witch quickly chanted, spinning. She pointed at the meister, and water shot up and caused the young master to be pushed out from the water and fall back in. Upon resurfacing, he was drenched from head to toe, and Patty was cursing the whole time.

*Spa-a-a-arkly: I meant for this to sound similar to a sheep's "Baa-a-a"

*Miss Bird: AKA Ladybird, another name for ladybug, but to be polite, she added the "Miss", getting rid of the "Lady".

_Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next chapter will be up on time :X_


	5. Invincible?

_Due to the most recent installment of Soul Eater, my plans for this fan fiction has changed, so I have to rethink the story just a bit. So, for now I'm just going to say that this takes place before the infiltration of Arachnophobia. I just gave away part of the storyline, didn't I? Haha, well you'll just have to keep reading to find out more about this fan-fictional series! (This chapter was kind of updated in a rush, I hope it's still okay though)_

The sword clashed with the umbrella, Chrona's hands shook and Lady Bug's gloved hand was perfectly still. _Amazing_, Maka thought._ In under a second that witch was able to close her umbrella and block Chrona. This enemy we're facing is strong… If only the others were here to help us...!_

_Damn, she's strong… If only the others were here to help us...!_ Despite being a distance away, Kid shared the same thoughts as Maka did, both in a dangerous situation of their own. Even worse, this was a girl he was fighting. As a gentleman, how was he supposed to just go all out and attack her? _Especially when the girl is somewhat, well, attractive._ He blushed, thinking about when he'd first seen her, which was when she worse nothing but a small towel. "Don't stay in the water too long!" Aries cheerfully advised. "It's not just water, but also the swimming pool for my pets!"

"Pets? Seeing how the get-up of this stupid cosplayer is, I bet it's just a pair of water-logged sheep!" Patty laughed heartily at this, until her elder sister interrupted her. "N-no, Patty, look…" Approaching Kid and the weapons quick, a pair of large alligators quickly swam through the water, lunging at Kid with their mouths open wide. The meister shot a bullet in each mouth and quickly ducked underwater, then resurfacing behind the large creatures. Aries grinned coldly and tossed a large piece of meat into the water; the larger one of the two snatched it up and spun wildly until smaller pieces flew off, enough to be eaten easily. "Behold," Aries announced, as if a cheerleader, "My precious pets' death roll*!" The word "_damn_" echoed through the trio's minds almost simultaneously.

"Chrona!!" Maka yelled as Lady Bug forced Ragnarok down, thus leaving Chrona open to attacks. The witch stepped back as she opened up her parasol, then shooting an acid projectile at Chrona. Ragnarok shot it to the side just before it could reach his meister's face, screeching at an unbelievably high pitch. The sound wave slowed the projectile down, and then it quickly flew to its side, slamming into the trunk of a nearby tree. Soul watched, feeling weak at the knees as he witnessed the tree breaking in half because of the acid. Maka, on the other hand, had her eyes glued on Lady Bug. Her movements were so quick you couldn't see them, yet so graceful, like a proper well-mannered lady's. Chrona was quick too, but not nearly as swift as her opponent's movements. Maka gritted her teeth. This could possibly be one of the greatest witches they've yet to face…

The young witch chanted yet another spell, and the water pushed Kid back into a boulder. The alligators, having devoured the meat given to them earlier, swam toward him, ready for another meal. "Beelzebub!" Kid shouted into the air, though to no avail. He grabbed onto the boulder behind him and jumped to the top. From there, he aimed at Aries shooting multiple bullets at her. Aries chanted "Bleat, blairt, blet!*" Her wool neckline expanded, and then blocked her opponents' bullets. As it shrunk back to regular size, she laughed evilly, which sounded suspiciously like a sheep's bleat. "Why are you holding back, young reaper? I wonder what's making you so weak! Spaarkle, shine!" The boulder below Kid exploded; smaller pieces flew everywhere, landing him into the water once again.

As he swam frantically away from the chomping alligators, Liz said "It's true, Kid. What that witch said. Why are you holding back?"

Kid looked embarrassed, wearing a silly grin. "Well, she's sort of comely, isn't she?"

"Liz, what does 'comely' mean?" Patty asked in a furious manner.

"It means 'attractive' or 'good-looking', but in a really polite kind of way."

"You're complimenting this witch?! Even worse, you're being polite about it?!" Distracted by Patty's anger now being directed at him, Kid barely dodged some of the flying debris from the boulder. He ignored Patty's comment and directed several shots at the witch. However, she dodged them all and yelled several commands, causing her alligators to swim desperately toward Kid. Liz, still in gun form, moved up, also moving Kid's arm, and moved his head down, forcing him to see his reflection in the water. At this moment, it was as if something within him snapped.

"Nooo! My hair--! I gelled it just right so it'd be perfectly symmetrical, and now the water's washed out half of it…! And those frustrating lines in my hair! Ah! I even have a scratch on my face! So unsightly!!" Kid smashed his fist into his reflection, creating unending ripples. In that moment of full-on madness, one of the alligators widened its jaw, ready to chomp down. The shinigami's eyes widened, and as if in a trance, he fired dozens of bullets at the alligator that was ready to make the boy a meal. The beast's jaw slammed shut, and it slowly sunk under the water, now dead. Blood rose to the surface and surrounded the water around the swimming shinigami. Under the cover of the blood, the second alligator snuck up behind Kid, approaching quickly, ready to eat.

Acid shot out at the pink-haired meister, who was preoccupied from dodging a previously shot projectile. Unable to dodge this bullet, she called for her sword to screech out, but before it could accomplish that, Maka jumped in front of the girl, arms extended. The acid grazed her arm, completely dissolving the shoulder area of her sleeve, and flew past Chrona's head. Soul looked on, incredulous, yelling "What are you—?!"

"I see," the meister interrupted. "Your acid can only dissolve one thing at a time." She smirked, grateful for finally realizing something that could change the tide of the battle. "Soul!" The weapon snapped out of his shock and nodded, then transforming into scythe-form, landing in his meister's hand.

"N-no! It's my battle…!" Chrona exclaimed, but was then stopped short by Maka's arm being held up, so as to silence her.

"It's our battle, Chrona. I can't just stand by and watch you get hurt like this!" Chrona frowned, but examined her friend's now bare shoulder. It was true it only dissolved the clothes, but upon closer examination, there were some minor burns on her skin as well. "M-Maka…" Chrona stuttered, not wanting her injured friend to have to fight. But the only way to protect Maka was to fight, and Maka would not just stand by and watch Chrona fight for her. The same went for Chrona, who silently accepted her friend's decision and got into a battle stance. Maka rushed toward the opponent as Chrona thrusted her sword toward the witch's side…

"Wait up, Scorpio… Really now, what's got you in such a rush now? You had no interest in those kids earlier." Walt scrambled behind his weapon partner; the two of them had entered the pyramid through an alternative entrance after escorting the group of meisters and weapons to the pyramid.

"Quiet and don't ask questions," the weapon clad in black snapped back. The meister looked at his partner meekly and bit his lip. The pair had been walking for almost half and hour now, through a passageway that seemed to have no end. Finally, a doorway could be seen; however, Walt was unsure whether it should've been considered an exit from the passageway, or an entrance to danger. Scorpio stopped at the edge of the doorway, waiting for Walt to catch up. When he did, the meister asked "What's the hold-up? What is i—" Before he could finish his sentence, he was kicked from behind by Scorpio, through the exit. Or was it an entrance? As Walt was pushed forward by the force of the kick, he began to fall. He could hear water rushing below him, and he looked up helplessly at his partner, who looked down on his with cold, heartless eyes. As he fell to his doom, Walt understood it all. _Definitely… This is definitely the exit. Damn… If only I had just a little more time…If only I could stop him…!_

_Yeah, kinda cliff-hangerish. This chapter didn't have much, I don't think, except for some new twists. Next one will definitely be a lot more interesting, I promise! Oh, and by the way, I just want to say that Lady Bug's whole "acid-attack" thing was based off of ladybugs, who are able to dissolve things with acid, if I remember my research correctly. Anyway, thanks for reading!_

*death roll: look up "alligator" on Wikipedia and in the behavior section it has more information about this if you'd like to know about it

*bleat: English for the sheep noise

*blairt, blet: sheep noises as pronounced in medieval times


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